THE FORM of Neil Edwards between the sticks was a bright spot in the gloom of a sticky patch in the league for Dale.

The 32-year-old goalkeeper fought his way back into the side after a disappointing reverse at Macclesfield and has been simply outstanding ever since. His performance in the extraordinary game at Doncaster, where he made five top-class stops to keep his side in a contest they had no right to take anything from, was breathtaking and memorable moments at Carlisle and Cheltenham mark him down as a man in form.

But it could all have been so different for the likable Welshman, who looked retirement in the face at the tail-end of last season following a string of frustrating but stubborn injuries.

Patched up throughout the early months of 2003, Edwards’ body finally gave in before Dale’s historic trip to Molineux. It was to be his last game of the campaign and signalled the start of an endless round of soul-searching and specialists he thought may get the better of him.

“Myself and Paul Simpson were both fully aware there was going to come a point last season when I had to say that’s it,” said Edwards, almost shuddering at the thought of his nightmare on the sidelines. “I was back and forth between specialists, so it was a question of getting through it as best I could. By the end I was training perhaps twice a week.

“From the Coventry game I don’t think I trained, I just had seven days where I tried to let everything settle down . We went down to Wolves and trained on the morning of the match, but I just went up to Paul and said it wasn’t worth it.

“I wasn’t going to play just because of the hype between myself and Dave Jones (Wolves boss) being my ex-manager. Not only would it have made me look silly, it wasn’t fair on the team or Matt Gilks,” he added.

Gilks, his stand-in for so long, was quickly drafted and impressed with some commanding displays. Edwards, though, had worries elsewhere.

“In my own mind, I’d had enough,” he said. “The injuries themselves wouldn’t have forced me to retire, but I got so fed up everything got on top of me and I wondered if it was worth it. What had I done to keep picking up these silly little injuries? I did go through a really bad spell, but a lot of family and friends - both inside and outside the game - phoned me up and kept me going. When I came into the club I was fine because I was around the players and working. But when I went home it hit me because I couldn’t do anything and I was in pain.”

Showing all the determination that makes him the scourge of so many strikers, Edwards battled through the tough times only to face another setback.

“I eventually got sorted when I saw a pain specialist who put four injections in my back. I got back into training in pre-season and then everything flared up again. I pulled my groin in the match at Accrington and I thought “oh no, here we go again”, but since then I’ve done a lot of work with the physio and at this moment I don’t have any problems at all.”

A new manager gave Edwards a fresh chance to prise the keeper’s jersey off Gilks. The pair remain close and have built up a friendly rivalry more common in siblings than colleagues, but it doesn’t stop each striving to get the nod.

“Gilksy came in and did tremendously well,” said Edwards. “I got rid of the injuries and pushed on. There was a spell when I was sat on the bench and didn’t feel ready, but that came and it was a question of working hard, waiting for my chance and when the time came take it and not look back. That’s what I did and hopefully I won’t look back either.”

As a team Dale can’t afford to dwell on history. A mixed start to the season sees them mid-table after promising to push the front runners in September.

“Things aren’t going right from our point of view because we’d look to be a lot higher than we are,” said Edwards. “But you can’t get away from the fact we aren’t playing particularly well.

“Apart from the Doncaster game, which was probably the biggest 2-1 hammering of all time, the others have been narrow defeats where individual mistakes have cost us. We just hope that the luck will turn around.”